Tripura tribal to party support UPA-sponsored presidential candidate

Agartala, July 9 (UNI) Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura(INPT), a tribal anti-left political outfit, will support the Congress in the upcoming presidential election but nothing has yet been finalised over the alliance.

Talking to UNI here today, Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise Santosh Mohan Dev said he held a meeting with the senior INPT leaders here this morning and they had agreed to their extend unconditional support to the UPA-sponsored presidential candidate Pratibha Patil.

Mr Dev had also held a meeting with the Congress MLAs regarding political matters in Agartala circuit house and reviewed the party activities in Tripura. Mr Dev had been sent by the AICC to campaign for Pratibha Patil and would also meet Chief Minister Manik Sarkar this evening before leaving for Kolkata.

He held Congress Legislature Party meeting with sitting congress MLAs.

Speaking on the issue of changing Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee President Samir Ranjan Barman, he said that the AICC had been informed in detail about the party condition in Tripura and the file is now with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

Congress leaders and MLA have been demanding the removal of Mr Samir Ranjan Barman since the past few months in order to strengthen the Opposition force in the state, despite assurances the AICC is yet to remove him from the presidents post.

UNI